Thoughts After Rewatch: Love Actually
It’s December 26, so Christmas is officially over. However, Christmas cheer is still in the air and won’t leave us until January. The decorations are still up and there are still leftovers in the fridge.
On another note, Thoughts After Rewatch is back for a couple of holiday-themed entries. First up is the British Love Actually.
This is one of my favorite romantic comedies or rather one of my favorite movies, and a must-watch every holiday season.
The good: The sprawling, talented cast is amazing. Alan Rickman, Emma Thompson, Hugh Grant, Keira Knightley, Andrew Lincoln, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Martine McCutcheon, Laura Linney, Rowan Atkinson, Liam Neeson, Thomas Sangster, Bill Nighy, Colin Firth, Martin Freeman, Rodrigo Santoro and Billy Bob Thornton all appear in memorable turns of varying length. The writing, though often clichéd and sappy, is very effective. Bonus points for a nice soundtrack and some very pretty locations.
The bad: A few characters are a tad obnoxious and a couple of plot strands do not receive proper closure.
The ugly: The ghastly song by Billy Mack “Christmas is All Around”. But that was the point.
Favorite scene: Daniel (Liam Neeson) eulogizing his late wife at her memorial service, set to The Bay City Rollers’s “Bye, Bye, Baby” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tJbXSiuRdE)
Favorite line: (the opening lines by Hugh Grant)
Whenever I get gloomy with the state of the world, I think about the arrivals gate at Heathrow Airport. General opinion’s starting to make out that we live in a world of hatred and greed, but I don’t see that. It seems to me that love is everywhere. Often, it’s not particularly dignified or newsworthy, but it’s always there – fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, old friends. When the planes hit the Twin Towers, as far as I know, none of the phone calls from the people on board were messages of hate or revenge – they were all messages of love. If you look for it, I’ve got a sneaking suspicion… love actually is all around.
Most of my favorite scenes involve the relationship between Neeson’s character and his stepson. I also like Firth’s story. Definitely one of the best romantic comedies.
LikeLike
Yeah, I think Neeson’s and Thompson’s are my favorite stories.
LikeLike
Glad that you are a fellow fan of this one! It’s one of my all time favorites, such a charming and funny film. My favorite was definitely Bill Nighy but the stories with Neeson and Keira Knightley were incredibly touching.
LikeLike
Yeah, it’s pretty touching. My favorite stories are Neeson’s, Thompson’s and Linney’s.
LikeLike
I’m not a fan of romantic comedies but this is probably one of my favourites. It works really well despite the various plot threads and has some genuine funny and touching moments.
LikeLike
Glad you liked it. I think this is the only movie with a billion stars that’s actually good.
LikeLike
I quite enjoyed this one too. My review should be up tomorrow or the next day because I’m going to be the guy reviewing Christmas movies after Christmas is long over.
LikeLike
Haha, me too! Still have pending reviews for Die Hard, Home Alone and Home Alone 2!
LikeLike
The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly… eh? Lol just kidding. Nice little write up. Love Actually is a Christmas staple for me too. Can’t have the holiday without the love.
LikeLike
Yeah, I use this system as well, and I bet many other blogs use it too, haha, so don’t hate ;), haha, it’s just really practical to separate the film in those 3 categories. And thanks. I think Love Actually is a holiday “must” for many of us.
LikeLike
Nope. I used good bad and the ugly way before Eastwood or anyone. Yes, I inspired the spaghetti western.
LikeLike
Wow! You really learn something new every day! 😉 LOL
LikeLike
After so many people got on my case about this one during the “What’s your favorite Christmas Movie” thread, I broke down and watched it this week. I have to say, it was very entertaining. Very funny, and sweet at times along the way. Solid flick!
LikeLike
Nice. Glad you liked it. It’s very hard to resist.
LikeLike
nice review. one of my favorite Romantic Comedies too. agree very much on the bonus points for soundtrack and choice of some locations.
LikeLike
Brilliant review, Fernando. I adore Love Actually, and that poster is so lovely! The Bay City Rollers scene is one of my favourites, but I think the best scene is Emma Thompson listening to Joni Mitchell. Heart breaking, but just brilliant.
LikeLike
Glad you liked it, Amy! It’s such a classic and I keep going back to it every year. Glad you dug the poster, too, it’s very pretty and festive. That scene is great. Very heartbreaking as well.
LikeLike
Pingback: My Top 5 Christmas films | Committed to Celluloid